Corruption in my home state: The big news of the day is the investigation into the widespread corruption at Wisconsin’s state capitol among the legislative leadership of both parties. The Dane County D.A. filed 20 (twenty) felony charges against the Senate Majority Leader, Chuck Chvala and more felony charges against Assembly Republican leadership.
I’m mildly embarrassed to admit I voted for Chvala for governor in 1996, but only because he was running against King Tommy.
As for me, I’m doing all right. Getting good grades. My future’s so bright…. ah, never mind.
I was officially awarded the NARRP (National Association of Recreation Resource Planners) freelance web design project on Tuesday. I’m pleased. Now I just have to get started. I’ll spend some time this weekend working on it, I suppose, since I didn’t really have time to devote to it this week.
I’ve also been calling people at random to ask them to join the California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV). Well, actually, I’m working for CLCV as a new member canvasser. (Sound familiar?)
I’m actually part of a weird new program they’re starting in order to get new members over the phone. Though it is a unique mental challenge to convince someone, in one phone call, to join a group they probably know nothing about, phone canvassing is far less strenuous than field canvassing. Instead of walking around for five hours, I’m simply sitting in a chair for four. And I can bike there, or take BART, extremely easily.
Since nearly every paragraph in this entry begins with the word “I,” betraying my egotism, here’s a paragraph about my roommate Nick. When asked what he thought the “readers of my website” might find interesting about him, he only replied, “I don’t know—Coast Guard?”
I put my third set of license plates on my car today. Though I’ve heard horror stories about the California DMV, my experience today was at least as good, if not better, than my experiences with the DMV in other states. I know that’s not saying much, but consider that it took me just three hours to do everything I needed to do: I got there at 9 am—just in time for my appointment, set online a week or two ago—and filled out the drivers’ license and car registration forms. I waited as the DMV employee verified my car and was relieved to discover that it does, in fact, exist. I took a (cursory) eye exam and a 36-question written test. I drove down to the gas station and paid $58 for them to check my car’s emission (a “smog test,” as they call it here). I went back to the DMV, surrendered my Minnesota plates (with a twinge of regret that I couldn’t keep one as a keepsake, though I probably could have tried giving them just one), and got new plates, borrowing their screwdriver to affix the new plates to my car.
I was at home with lunch by 12 pm. Not bad, I say. The people at the Oakland Claremont DMV were actually friendly and seemed even to enjoy their jobs. Let’s see how fast my new license and title get to me in the mail, though.